


The Price of Knowledge

by yvonna



Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace has secrets, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Bad Parenting, Blushing, But he doesnt know it, But they still suck, Curse Breaking, Curses, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Gen, Luffy also has secerts, M/M, Magical Creatures, Phoenix - Freeform, Sabos got issues, Secret Crush, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Touch-Starved, his parents are no the ones from canon, no beta we die like men, title might change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:14:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27847518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yvonna/pseuds/yvonna
Summary: From a young age Sabo has been able to see the Magical to a degree that no others could, When he meets two other boys who can also see magical beings to an above average degree, he's delighted, and they make fast friends.They want to break a curse on the magical beings of the island, and Sabo's going to help, but info's hard to get until they meet a phoenix.But can they break the curse even with help?
Relationships: Fushicho Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace/Sabo, Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Sabo, Koala & Sabo (One Piece), Monkey D. Luffy & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, Portgas D. Ace/Sabo
Comments: 10
Kudos: 18





	The Price of Knowledge

**Author's Note:**

> This all came from a dream I had, the outlines about the same as what I've written so far, but I've obviously added things, and the dreamed ended with Marco showing up, so there's that too.
> 
> I have no idea when I'll next update, eventually hopefully!

Sabo could see magical beings even if they tried to hide, he also just knew if they could twist his words and if he needed to be careful with what he said. He could see paths he should take, and got forewarning when something bad or dangerous was going to happen. That was the main reason he lived past childhood.

When he's four he starts talking about all these magical creatures out there and how amazing they are to others, and when left alone he goes off on adventures to meet them and learn about them and collect things that have magic in them.

His mother and Father become more and more upset each time he talks about magic, because while people know magic is real, and magical beings are out there, The rich don't go out exploring and learning new things about them, and they certainly don't tell others about their  _ adventures. _

Everyday Sabo's reputation becomes worse and worse, until he’s known as little more than the wild fae child.

By the time he’s five, Sabo has little worth in his parents eyes, there are very few among the upper class society that don't know his reputation, and as the second child he was really only worth who he could be married two. The first born, a daughter, would have to marry either lower than herself, or a second or third child, But Sabo could have been married into a family, creating new ties and strengthening their family name, but it was too late for that now.

At 5 years old Sabo was deemed unmarriable and useless by his parents, and they looked for a way to get the black mark against their family far away where he couldn't do anymore damage.

Thankfully, going through their properties they find a manor that was given as a dower with the marriage of a great grandmother, the place needed some work, but that was easily done, all the problems fixed, runes repaired, new furnishing bought, and a maid/cook named Julie hired.

Sabo is given a large number of new presents, and his things are packed up and he’s sent a far away island where he can cause no more scandals that could damage his older sister or younger brother's reputations.

At first its fun, and Sabo enjoys the experience of being on a boat, and he misses the forest he used to explore, but it’s not like he had any friends, and his parents mostly just scolded him for getting dirty, so this was just a fun new adventure.

Until the journey was almost over and Sabo got caught out in a storm, and became very sick, He doesn't remember much of the last part, everything becomes blurry and the fever doesn't help, by the time he’s better he’s in his room in the manor, with no memories on how he got there.

He hates that the last part of the adventure is a blank spot in his mind.

But at least the manors nice! It's too large, and walking the halls and looking in the rooms makes Sabo feel small and alone, so he doesn't do that!

Instead he spent most of his time outside! The yard is big, on one side is a large fruit orchard, with a number of trees, and apparently it is Sabo's main source of income now, Julies been taking care of it since her mother died, with hiring people and paying wages and selling the fruit, and turning the ones that can't be sold into preserves and jams, and letting the villagers take the excess, Sabo's family never really paid any of this much attention, she tells him, but when he’s older since this is all his now, he’ll be expected to take over what she does.

  
  


On the other side and round the back is a forest, Julie says it's dangerous, and that he shouldn’t go into it.

Sabo ignores this.

She tells him he should go into town, there's a very clear road from the front of the manor down to the town, but Sabo has no interest in the town.

Human interaction has never gone well for him, and these people might not be the same kind of people he’s used to, but people are still people, and Sabo's tired of being looked at like he’s weird.

And wasn't his parents sending him away here enough of a sign that Sabo wasn't meant to be around other people? No one even said goodbye.

No, the dangerous magical forest is a much better place for Sabo to spend his time.

He spends everyday in that forest, learning all sorts of new things, making friends with magicals creatures, and wondering what the weird black mark hovering over each of the magical beings' hearts is.

He discovers plants that can shrink you till your as small as a hummingbird for an hour, plants that can change your gender, how to combine things to get different results, he's learning and playing, and the only other human he's talked to in four years has been Julie, but she's very busy and doesn't have much time for him.

  
  
  


One day 9 year old Sabo is playing while shrunk, when he gets startled by a voice (That weird, there aren't any people here? I should know when a magical is nearby, I always know.)

before he can fall off the branch he's on, and down to his death considering how small he is and the height and arm wraps around his waist and he's being pulled back and up to someone's chest.

"Whoa there kid, that could have been bad."

Looking up, Sabo's shocked to see a red haired fairy -not that it's a fairy, but that there there at all - no magicals had been nearby when Sabo nearly fell, right?

And even ignoring that, something was really  _ really  _ off with this fairy, but 9 year old Sabo couldn't put his finger on what.

…being held like this was nice....

So Sabo spends time with his new fairy friend (Which is weird normally he feels the need to be super cautious around fairies, because they can twist your words, but the feelings not there around this one, and Sabos going to take advantage of what appears to be a really friendly -wont do anything to me- fairy to learn new things.)

Shanks is great, and Sabo spends the rest of the hour with him They talk about all sorts of things, |Shanks tells him about his adventures, and this other human kid he made friends with a few years ago. He answers Sabo's questions about fairies. Sabo tells him about the manor, and why he lives there when the place was empty for years the last time Shanks was here. And when it's time to go and he can feel the magic keeping him small, Shanks mentions how it would be nice to know how the Luffy’s doing.

And Sabo likes his new fairy friend, so he does something stupid.

He promises to find this Luffy and come back here every Sunday morning until he can tell Shanks about how Luffys doing.

You can't break promises to magical creatures, they can't break them either of course, and it's an automatic thing, no one has any control over it, if you say 'I promise' that's is.

  
  


A Year later Sabo ventures into the town for the first time, he won't admit it but he's gotten a little lonely, must of the magical creatures in the forest cant talk, and don't get him wrong the ones that cant talk are still great, and Sabo loves spending time with them, and cuddling them close when they let him…

….but maybe someone who would talk back could be nice?

  
  


And! Plus, he still needs to find that Luffy kid!

  
  


It's been five years, the sting from the consent rejection from other humans has faded, for all that it's left him hesitant, so he goes to the town.

It's not a small town, but it's also nowhere near the size of the city Sabo had been born in. Named the same as the Island,  Raftel  was a very nice, pretty looking town, and it was sure to have new places to explore

Sabo doesn't really talk to anyone, He just watches and listens, quietly exploring the town, and learning the layout, and soon enough he finds himself at the docks, staring out into the ocean. He vaguely remembers coming to this place via the ocean, but he was asleep for most of the landing and being moved to the manor with a fever, so it's all mostly blurry nonsense.

There are two other boys at the dock, they both have dark hair, and Sabo's moving before he even realized it.

He pushes them out of the way just as a large magical sea beast comes out of the ocean and slams its tail at the spot the two boys were at.

He stares down at the two boys he saved, kinda awed by what he was seeing. He couldn't see it from behind, but neither of these boys were normal, and that was amazing.

(and wow, other humans were really warm, how long since he last toughed one?)

He gets up blushing hotly when he realizes that he's just on top of them staring, and goes to run away, because he's sure that not how you make friends, when the smaller one grabs his arm and starts chattering about, "How cool it was that you saved us like that, and hey, how'd you know that was going to happen? Well whatever, hey hey I'm Luffy what your name?"

"S-Sabo."

"Awesome, and that's Ace, he's my big brother, because we said so, and-"

"I can introduce myself, idiot!"

They talk for hours, and it's amazing.

They love exploring and meeting magical beings too! They can see things that other humans can't just like Sabo! It's great, they both want to explore, see and learn and meet new people and things!

(He hopes Shanks shows up one Sunday soon, he was right, Luffy's great.)

They talk all about their different adventures and things they learned, and then Ace and Luffy tell him about the curse that all the magical creatures on this island are under, and how one day they're going to break it. Sabo says he'll help.

He has a new routine now, he wakes up and goes and spends time with his new friends, they sometimes go into the forest, sometimes they play around town, sometimes they go to his house, they even expand the garden he had made, it's always great and always fun.

At night he reads and researches about curses and how to identify them and break them. One day he realized the black markings above magical hearts is a sign of the curse, but it's too blurry for him to identify properly.

On Sundays every morning he goes to the forest and waits in the spot he met shanks for an hour, and then he leaves to go meet up with Ace and Luffy.

Thanks to them he now knew, and was maybe friends with? a lot of people, including Makino! which was good because he had a mild crisis at 13 when he had a dream of Ace holding his hand (which he never does because the first time they tried Sabo jerked away and looked so shocked and confused that Ace felt bad, and now he doesn't really tough Sabo much.) and then he kissed him, and Sabo has never been kissed before, has only seen a few people kiss, and read about it a few times, but in his dream it was very nice, right up until he woke up and couldn't get it out of his head, and couldn't look Ace in the Face without turning bright red.

Talking about it with Makino was much easier than talking about it with Ace (Or Luffy, who doesn't understand that dreams are not reality and should not be followed when you wake up.)

She gave him lots of advice, and options, and Sabo picked the 'ignore it until it goes away' and 'make more friends' options.

Both of which were harder then he thought they'd be.

The dream became recovering, and he was terrible at making friends, Ace and Luffy had clearly been a fluke

.

And then somehow they were 17 and 14. Luffy had managed to make several dozen new friends in the last 7 years, whilst Ace had made 1 good friend, and several lesser friends, and Sabo had made 1 friend (an achievement, as far as he was concerned, why were humans so hard to befriend? They were easy to manipulate.)

The reason Ace and Luffy had also made more friends outside of each other?

Because when being questioned about the whole 'making more friends thing' Sabo told them that he thought more friends could be good for helping break the curse, and they could talk to them about things they didn't want each other to know.

Luffy loved the idea of friends, and was all for it, no questions needed, Ace was the one who had questions (Luffy said he was scared of being replaced, Sabo thought this ridicules, because who could ever replace Ace!?) And after hearing Sabo's answers to his  _ many  _ questions had looked thoughtful, before agreeing that it wasn't a bad idea.

So now sometimes they spend time apart with their own friend groups, Having told and proven magic to some of them (mostly Ace's two new friends, Koala had been saved by a fishman when she was younger and already believed, and one of Luffy's friends was a skeleton.)

Sabo spent a lot of time complaining about his Crush (yes he could admit it now Koala shut up.) on Ace still hasn't gone away, and if anything, has just gotten worse.

And now they were being stalked by a on fire bird apparently, Sabo had felt something watching them for weeks at this point, but could never pin point where or what, until Ace came back after exploring some caves with Deuce to tell him about the firebird, Which had sparked Sabo to go find it.

And find it he did. 

It was a Phoenix, except, not the normal colors (but what else could it be?) and it was super pretty.

For the next few weeks Sabo would seek the phoenix out to talk to them, hoping they would come closer, because the black curse mark on them was the clearest Sabo had ever seen, and if he could just get a better look maybe he could get a clue how to break the curse, Ace and Luffy would be so happy, and it would be nice to help all the magical beings here. 

(Also Sabo wanted to Touch so badly, what did a phoenix feel like? Was the fire hot? Sabo wanted to know.)

Sunday mornings were the closest the phoenix got to him, only a branch or two away while Sabo waited, hoping Shanks would come back one day (He was holding Ace and Luffy back from exploring the rest of the island thanks to that promise he could never go to far or else he wouldn't make it back in time)

And Sabo would talk like he normally did, and sometimes the phoenix would even respond to yes or no questions, which went a long way in learning about him.

  
  


One Sunday morning, after yet another dream about Ace (Simple dreams, it never really got past light touching and kissing, and that weird isn't it? Books he’s read say he should be having different kinds of dreams now, Koala says it's because he's touch starved and so his brain just can't go past simple touching because it would overheat, Sabo thinks that is ridiculous.) He's very tired, and not as talky as he normally is, just watching the phoenix and wondering what it would feel like to touch them. When out of nowhere the Phoenix flies down and sits in his lap.

He doesn't touch right away, more than a little surprised by this new turn, but when it rubs their head against his hand he does, gives into what he's wanted to do for a month now, and touches, and it's really  _ really  _ nice. Soft and warm, but not hot like he would have thought.

He spends well over an hour just cuddling and petting the Phoenix before he gets a hold of himself (this is probably why most magical creatures in the forest don't let Sabo touch anymore, he always goes overboard nowadays.) Honestly, it's a miracle that they did not get annoyed and peck Sabo already.

But now that it was so close he could look at the curse!

And he was right it was super clear now...in fact...it was kinda familiar, or at least, parts of it where.

"You know, it's sunny enough, and I've got the things, I could probably get rid of some of this."

Completely breaking it wasn't possible, but he could break some of it, and surely that better than nothing?

He was already standing and walking back towards his house, with the Phoenix on his arm and thinking about all he would need.

One of the ingredients he only had a little of, it was a stone he had collected when he was little, before his parents sent him here, he only had a few of them, and he hadn't seen any here, so that was "...Lucky." he mumbled, some of his thoughts slipping into the air while he was busy thinking so hard about what he would need.

He absentmindedly pointed out things to his new Phoenix friend (and they were friends now right? after that much touching? right?)

And before long they were in his room, the Phoenix on his desk and looking around as Sabo dug out the things he would need, opened the window, and mixed/ground everything together.

He rubbed the paste on the black mark on the Phoenix chest, making sure the sun was hitting it.

  
  


…..And suddenly he was touching the chest of a man.

  
  


“That's impressive yoi, I wasn't sure you’d actually be able to break that much of the curse.”

“W-wha..” Sabo wasn't able to finish his sentence, growing more red by the second, he was more than a little frozen, he didn't even think to remove his hand. His brain isn't awake enough to handle this, and he was always off the whole day when he had those dreams about Ace so that wasn’t helping

And then the Phoenix turned hot, older blond man leaned way too close to Sabo's face, smirking(!)

“And my names Marco yoi.”

“Iiiiihhhhh” Sabo's mind was blank, with loud sirens going off.

What _ what was going on!!?? _

The -Marco put a hand in his hair, looking concerned with Sabo's frozen self, “Are you alright? I can go back to being a bird if that makes you feel better yoi, I just haven't been a man in a long time now.”

‘You are upsetting the good looking guy Sabo say something!!!!’

“I-it i mean. No it's fine, your fine I don't I.” At least he had finally managed to pull his hand off Th-Marcos chest, though he was now unsure what to do about the hand in his hair.

And it was really distracting, no ones ever done that before please stop.

Trying to back away so that his hand wouldn't be able to reach didn't work because he  _ got off the desk and followed! _

And worse! He now had an arm around Sabo's waist! And he was too close, and too touchy! 

Sabo didn't know what to do with his hands!

He feels kinda dizzy.

“Oh, before I forget yoi, Sabo since I can talk now, Shanks wanted you to know that he found a way around your promise, you just need to leave a letter telling him about Luffy in the spot you met and it’ll count for as long as the letter is okay, so maybe put it in a glass box or something.”

Sabo wants to respond, but he can feel an old but annoyingly familiar feeling ( _ nooo it's been years! why! _ )

And before Sabo can make more attempts at talking his brain decides it had enough touching and Sabo faints.

  
  


It’s a real shame he misses Marcos' panicked look, because very few have seen it.

  
  
  
  
  


* * *

He comes too hours later to familiar yelling.

Sitting up, Ace is in front of him yelling at a blond man with Luffy looking back and forth between them.

Who? Oh

Right.

The phoenix that turned into a man.

Named Marco.

Whos way  _ WAY _ too touchy

(Not that it was a bad thing. Sabo liked being touched, for all that his body and brain couldn't handle it sometimes.)

And honestly, did Sabo even have room to complain about being touchy? He was a guy now, but when he was a bird  _ Sabo  _ was being the touchy one.

(Ugh it had been so long since he last fainted, he probably scared him.)

And the yelling had stopped.

Looking up, Sabo found three pairs of eyes trained on him, before a loud “SABO” and Luffy slammed into him.

Thankfully, Luffy only hugged him briefly, because Sabo could still feel his skin...sparking with the touch, and too much right now would likely make just as useless as he was before he fainted, even if it was just Luffy.

He listened to Luffy talk about his day, and about how he came to get him with Ace when Sabo didn't show up like normal, only to find him asleep with someone they didn't know in his room.

As he listened he watched Ace come closer and closer never taking his eyes off of Marco.

Marco, with his hand raised slightly in the air, mostly looked like he was trying not to laugh. But Sabo could see the twitch in his hands, the kind Sabo got sometimes when he really wanted to touch, but was holding himself back (For a number of reasons really) and Sabo got the feeling that if Marco wasn’t sure Ace would attack him that he’d be just as touchy with Ace as he was to Sabo a...how long was he down for? A while ago.

“Are you okay Sabo? He didn't do anything to you did he?” 

“I’m fine Ace...this was...uh, nothing. But! Guess what!” Best to distract Ace before he could find out why Sabo was asleep, he always got upset when Sabo fainted from too much touching.

“What?”

“That's the Phoenix!” Well that got Ace to stop glaring and turn to look at Sabo, and his confused face had no right to be that cute.

“What?”

“The Phoenix turned into a guy when I broke part of his curse.”

“Ehh? Sabo you broke the curse!?!?!”

“My name’s Marco.”

“Only part of it Luffy.”

“ _ You're _ the Phoenix that's been following us?”

“Yes, I like you. Originally I was just in the area and was going to check up on the kids Shanks mentioned, but you two are fun, so I stayed a while, it's worked out well for me yoi.” And upon saying that he gestured at his human body, and watched with amusement and something else as both Ace and Sabo's eyes trailed down and back up said body.

Man they were so cute yoi.

“That's creepy! Don't follow us!”

“So pineapple bird guy, can you tell us more about the curse!?!?! We wanna  _ Break  _ it!”

“That's dangerous, you know that right yoi?”

“So? We said we’re going to break it and so we will.”

“I broke part of yours, I can break the rest too.”

They both sounded so indignant that Marco laughed lightly under his breath, and only had to hold back more laughter when the three of them all ruffled at the sound.

“Well I do know who's behind the curse, he was a member of my family before he betrayed us, it's why my curse was more then the others you’ve seen, the Whitebeard Family got more of a curse than everyone else, it’s affected us all in different ways.”

“And? What's his name!”

“Hmmm, should I tell you?”

“Of course you should Pineapple birdman!”

“His name’s Marco Luffy.”

“Alright, but only if you agree to one thing.”

At that both Ace and Luffy turned to look at Sabo, who would know if Marco had the power to twist words, or steal things via words, thankfully he didn't, so Sabo nodded his head.

“What thing?” Still better to ask before agreeing though.

“If I tell you who, and any other info about them, you agree that I get to stay here and help you break the curse yoi, I wasn't joking about it being dangerous. And my family is the most affected by it after all.”

Sabo and Luffy had no problem with this, as more help was always a good thing, but Ace was already violently shaking his head No before Marco had even finished talking.

“Eh? Why not Ace?”

“Ya, I thought it sounded fine?”

If anything, Ace just looked more upset.

“FINE! He wants to stay here! He can't Stay here! Who knows what he’d do to you Sabo! It's not like Julie would notice!”

She doesn't notice much, that's true, Sabo thought looking over at Marco to see what he thought of Ace’s violent refusal, and was surprised to see that if anything, he just looked delighted.

  
  


“I wouldn’t do anything yoi.”

“Your a liar! I’m not stupid and your a pervert I wont let you stay with Sabo! He’s way too innocent to see you for what you are but I do!”

“ _ Innocent!?” _

“I haven't done anything perverted and have no idea what you're talking about.”

“You’ve been stalking a bunch of kids.” At this Marco looked thoughtful for a moment.

“I’ve only been stalking you a little bit yoi, and only when your in the woods. Also did the age of adulthood change since I've been around? I could have sworn it was 17.”

“Yup! I’ll be an adult in 3 more years and Ace and Sabo won't be able to tell me what to do anymore!” Ace and Sabo both ignored Luffy patently untrue statement, because they will always be able to tell him what to do, not that he obeys.

“I really don't have a problem with him staying here Ace.”

And with that Sabo found himself the target of Ace’s glare now, which is never a fun place to be.

“I’m not stupid Sabo! You fainted right? There's no other reason why you'd be asleep after a Phoenix turned into a guy! You’d be asking him questions and writing down his answers not sleeping!”

“U-uh well t-that's, um.” What's the best way to explain away the fainting? Why was it so hard to lie to Ace when it was so easy to lie to others?

“Huh. So the fainting is a normal thing yoi? Do you know why it happens?”

“Sabo gets overheated when he’s touched too much sometimes, it hasn't happened in a really long time though... Ne, are you okay Sabo?”

Shit now Luffy was looking at him with big eyes and Ace was still glaring, though now he was also looking back at Marco sometimes.

It was all that dreams fault, he’s always more sensitive after those damn dreams, but it’s not like he could just  _ say  _ that, because then they would ask what dreams, and who knows how Ace would react to those.

  
  
  


…The best way is to ignore it.

So he turned to look at Marco, very studiously avoiding looking at either Ace or Luffy and said.

“You can stay here and help us if you tell us everything you know.”

“SABO!”

Still not looking, "It's my house Ace, he can stay here. If your really worried, you could stay here too.”

“B-but, we can't just-!”

“Yay! Lets stay with Sabo! I don't like living with Dadan anyway!”

“Why weren't they just staying with you already? You’ve got plenty of room yoi.”

“Ace was against it.”

  
  


And that's how Sabo finally got a full house, Because Ace isn't just going to let Marco, who he kept insisting was a pervert of the highest order and could never be left alone with sabo, live there, and Luffy was just happy to live with both of his brothers now.

And with Luffy came Luffy's friends, Zoro, Nami, Ussop, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, and Brook.

And Ace’s friend Deuce also moved in (Ace said it was to help keep an eye on Marco, but Sabo suspected he just liked Luffy's idea of everyone he cared about living under one roof, Sabo certainly did.)

And Sabo's friend Koala, who was sure this was going to be the best entertainment she ever got, also agreed to move.

  
  


Honestly, as far as Sabo was concerned this was the best thing that could have happened, the manor being so empty was his number one complaint about the place after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't just say update if you comment, you can say that, I don't mind, but don't leave one word and have that word be 'update' that's rude


End file.
